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Box Front with Scenes of Alexander and Pyramus

Anonymous (French)

1330-1350 (Medieval)

ivory

H: 3 11/16 x W: 7 15/16 in. (9.4 x 20.2 cm)

Description
The first two scenes, from the left, show Aristotle teaching Alexander and Aristotle ridden by Phyllis, observed by Alexander. The next two scenes show Thisbe and the lion and the death of Pyramus and Thisbe. There is a roughened area for the lock in the upper center.

The upper border is recessed for the lid and has been cut down on each side. A piece of raised border is missing at each end. There is a longitudinal break, and pieces of ivory are mssing along the break and at the right end.

Although the first two scenes depict two of the same subjects fround on the Paris box (Walters 71.264), the work here is somewhat coarser and must either have come from another shop or been done by a lesser hand. The change of the second two scenes from the Fountain of Youth to Pyramus and Thisbe suggests that there was a variety of subjects available to the carvers.
Additional Information

Acquired by Henry Walters, 1923

71.196

Not on view

Gothic

Paris, France


Provenance

Henri Daguerre, Paris [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1923, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

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